Scam Attacks Taking Advantage of the Popularity of the Generative AI Wave

This Unit 42 report analyzes trends in newly registered domains and DNS traffic that leverage GenAI-related keywords (e.g., gpt, chatgpt, prompt), finding a substantially elevated suspicious rate (~28.75%) and active abuse tied to major GenAI milestones. The authors present traffic analysis, keyword and registration patterns, and three case studies showing real-world abuse: distribution of a potentially unwanted program (with a provided SHA256), spam campaigns using ChatGPT-themed URLs, and monetized domain parking leading to phishing/malware landing pages; the report includes extensive IoCs and guidance for detection and mitigation.